The next day a parliament of owls could be seen going in and out of the window of the second bedroom at Number 4, Privet Drive. Harry had requested a mail-order catalogue from Flourish & Blotts and ordered a number of books from them on a wide variety of subjects. Some of the books were quite expensive due to their rarity but Harry had spared no cost in getting what he needed.
He soon started arranging the books in order on a small shelf by his bed. Advanced Dueling for Hit-Wizards by Hugo Colterus went to the top row. Placed closely by its side were Occlude your mind by Ursula Bathbarry, The Lost Arts of Leglimency and Aura Reading by Septimus the Third and Explore your Inner animal by Tobias Wilomonta.
The second row comprised of The Complete Laws and Statutes of the British Ministry of Magic by Lego Legalius, Charm Your Way to Victory by Rosamunda Whitle, Transfiguration Secrets by Robertus McGonagall, and finally the previous year's prescribed sixth and seventh year textbooks for DADA, Transfiguration and Charms.
He neglected buying any text for Potions and other subjects like Arithmancy because he knew it would take him lot of time to gain a thorough understanding of them and they would not be particularly useful to him in a duel.
Giving his new acquisitions a satisfied look, Harry took out his old Hogwarts textbooks and started categorizing them subject-wise form Grade 1 and so on.
"Hey girl, you must be pretty tired", he fondly asked Hedwig. She gave a feeble hoot of affirmation and he refilled her water bowl and put in a few extra owl treats in front of her perch.
By the next week Harry finished reading his old Hogwarts texts. He practiced his wand movements with the leg of a broken chair Dudley had managed to break after sitting on. He lightly fashioned it into a close replica of a wand, enough to get his grip right and the weight balanced out.
He kept up with his morning runs and managed to squeeze a dozen of push-ups every few hours in his room. Harry kept dropping subtle hints to his Uncle and Aunt about the man with the bowler hat who would be coming to check up on him sometime soon. 'The power of plausible deniability' he thought with great relish after seeing the nervous condition of his relatives. He thought this was a fitting payback to them for all their harsh remarks about his kind they had managed to squeeze in their short but cruel conversations with him over the period of five years. This also ensured he was getting second helpings at lunch and dinner to the great distaste of darling Dudders.
Even though his frame was still short and slightly skinny he was from the under-nourished kid he had been earlier. His nightly exercises to reign in wandering thoughts and clear his mind, which he had learned to do from his Occlumency book, had helped him get much needed rest that had been viciously eluding him since last summer.
Another two weeks later, Harry has gleaned all the important information in the sixth and seventh year curricula. With some actual practice with a real wand for sometime, Harry thought he could actually pass his NEWT's with an acceptable grade and an exceeds expectations grade in DADA. He had also gained some stamina and his muscles though not really developed, were starting to harden and show cuts though not very visible.
By the time the wane end of July approached, he had mastered Occlumency and could build impenetrable mental walls at a seconds notice. He practiced his Leglimency skills on his relatives especially Aunt Petunia. Looking deep into the eyes of the fat blob of an Uncle and the whale clone of a cousin that had somehow managed to learn to walk on land, was not very appealing to Harry. Vernon's twittering moustache always managed to distract him from his goal. So completely unknown to the Dursleys, they were the test subjects of their famous wizard nephew. The only useful thing that he learnt from them was discerning between truths and lies, and reading their emotions the back of his hand.
Harry was surprised to learn that Vernon feared him even though he put on his most fearless and imperial expressions when trying to order him around. This was nothing compared to the shock he got when he figured there was a distinct feeling of pride underneath his Aunt's contemptuous glare that she frequently gave him. After learning that, however harsh her tongue he always answered her politely and without asking her, helped her in her chores from tie to time. The flare in the feelings of affection and pride he picked up from her, only served to reinforce his resolve that he would anything to protect her from Voldemort and his minions.
Harry, even though having theoretically mastered the wand techniques and movements that accompanied various curses, jinxes, hexes and counter-curses from his highly advanced dueling, charms and transfiguration books, was feeling severely handicapped by not being able to perform actual magic wit his real wand.
He was itching to animate Dudley's broken toys that were lying in his room and practice some extremely advanced shields, like the one he had seen Voldemort holding at the battle at the Ministry. Harry knew he could perform most of the spells but seeing the fruits of his hard labor first hand had a different feeling of its own.
The book on British Wizarding Laws also provided him with some very useful insight into the existing legal system. He had some ideas running around his head about some legal loopholes he could exploit, but wanted to confer with Lupin first. After all, failing short of being actively persecuted for being a werewolf, Lupin he thought must have had quite a few run-ins with a law and other legal hassles werewolves were subjected to. 'Yes, Lupin is the best person to talk to about this', Harry thought.
He didn't want Dumbledore to be privy to his plans because he was the newly re-instated chief of the Wizengamot. Dumbledore would be an integral part of his future plans but he still needed to maintain some distance from him, so that when he dropped the bombshell on the Order, they would not be able to stand in his way and Molly-Cuddle him.
With a hearty chuckle, he took out a quill and some parchment and started writing a letter to Moony.
TBC.